66 As soon, the manners of the nations vanquished by the Roman arms, and with the researches of philosophers who had travelled in quest of knowledge. It has not been disproved by modern discoveries. There are three forms in which atheism might exist,-absence of the idea of a God,--doubt,--and positive rejection. In the two last, certain individuals have fallen under the charge. Some have attempted to discard the idea ; but their attempts, instead of making proselytes, have brought on themselves either the stigma of insanity, or the reprobation of society, and the vengeance of the secular power. says Grotius, “ as their arguments were known, their opinion was exploded ; it was evident it did not proceed from the right use of that reason which is common to all men, but either from an affectation of novelty, like that of the heathen philosopher who contended that snow was black, or from a corrupted mind, which, like a vitiated palate, does not relish things as a they are."* The want of fixed principle with regard to the existence of a Deity constitutes sceptical atheism. Occasional doubts may obtrude themselves on the most enlightened philosopher, and even on the saint who is less in their way. But these doubts relate chiefly to the doctrine of Providence, and like other temporary clouds which pass over the mind, they are soon chased away, especially by the effulgence of that light which hath arisen on the soul of the saint, and will never suffer it again to be enveloped in darkness. Asaph felt for a season the distressing force and baneful effect of such doubts, but he went “ into the sanctuary” of God whom he still acknowledged, and there obtained the desired relief. Many of the Greek and Roman philosophers have been accused of atheism, but it were easy to shew that in some instances the accusation is unjust, while in others it rests on the misconception rather than the denial of a Deity. Grant that the doctrines of a few, who had the idea but wanted the full persuasion of his being, have either directly, or by native inference substantiated the charge, this will not infringe in the smallest degree on the argument to be drawn from the consent of mankind. In order to weaken it, some nation or people must be found, properly circumstanced, possessed of all the requisite advantages for giving full play to the rational powers in their native and unsophisticated actings, yet devoid of the idea. To subvert the argument entirely, it would be necessary to prove that this was the case with the majority • De Veritate, lib. 1. | 2. of mankind, and not merely in some particular age, but from the earliest epochs of authentic history; or, which perhaps might be deemed equivalent, to shew that a people of the description supposed, felt themselves so superior to the weakness of others, that instead of admitting the idea when suggested by their intercourse with others, they preferred continuing as they were. But the argument is certainly strengthened, if the most unfavourably circumstanced be found to entertain the doctrine of a Deity, in common with the most civilized. The latter have not rejected the opinion of the former, nor condemned it as weak and absurd, attributable only to the barbarism of their state ;-—“ the latter cannot well be supposed to be all deceived, nor the former, the savage tribes of our race, to have found out something with which to impose upon each other."* In their transition from the rudeness of a savage state to the excellence acquired by science and civilization, no people has discarded the doctrine of a Deity. While the dreams that delighted the mind during the slumber of its faculties, and all the spectres of a barbarous superstition, have fled before the orient light, this doctrine has maintained its ground, the ancient belief has been more firmly maintained, and the Deity honoured in a manner more worthy of his nature and perfections. “ Human inventions," to add another thought from Grotius on this subject, “ are not always nor everywhere the same. They are frequently changed. But as Aristotle has remarked, there is no place where this notion is not found, nor has time with all its revolutions been able to alter or efface it." In this universality of sentiment there is something remark. able. It seems to be the grand principle of intellectual concord and fellowship among the human race. Differing in language, in colour, in habits and customs,—differing widely in their opinions, in their religious rites, in their intellectual state, and in their very capacities, they are all agreed in the belief of a God. - What then ? we are reduced to three conclusions, 1st, That the Existence of a Deity is an innate idea in the human mind; or 2d, that such is the relative constitution of nature and the human faculties, that the idea is necessarily suggested, and instantly commends itself to the mind; or 3d, that the doctrine has some time or other been ascertained by supernatural manifestation of the Deity. The first conclusion cannot be admitted, therefore one or other of the two last, or both, must be granted; and on either supposition, the Grot. De Verit. I. 1, 2. consent of mankind furnishes at least a strong presumptive argument in favour of the doctrine. a VII:- The indications of the late Origin of the world also fall under the head of presumptive evidence. These serve to disprove the eternity of the world. They may be detailed under three articles, the state of human inventions, the defects of history,—and certain appearances in nature. Look to the state of human inventions. If the world, in its present form, hath existed from eternity, and if, as must be supposed, the human mind has been directed both according to its native energy, and the impulse of exterior circumstances, to the amelioration of the individual and social state, for a series of ages which defy all the powers of numeration,—why are the arts and sciences no farther advanced? Whence is it, that the accumulated efforts of genius have left the world in its present condition, only rising to eminence in science, manufactures, and commerce? Should it be alleged that disastrous eras have occurred to abolish the previous state of improvement, and keep the energies of the mind in constant occupation, this might imply more than the atheist would admit, but would still be insufficient to account for the fact. That the irruption of barbarous nations may have extinguished or greatly obscured for a time the lights of science in some civilized parts of the world, will be readily granted; but our argument militates against the existence of such barbarous nations, on the supposition of the eternity of the world. What æra could be so completely disastrous as to overwhelm all the treasures of science, and totally destroy the monuments of art, without at the same time destroying the whole human race? If any survived, these by the knowledge they retained, by the help of such books as might escape, and by the discovery and imitation of the models of art, must soon have retrieved the ancient wisdom, susceptible of progress almost from the very point to which it had been previously brought. Should it be alleged that there may have been a succession of Deluges almost universal, which may have occasioned the loss of previous arts and sciences, and served to retard the intellectual progress of mankind, the suggestion will be found insufficient for the purpose of the atheist. Unless these deluges had been more frequent than could consist with the laws and present order of nature, why, in the lapse of ages, might not the art of navigation have been devised and brought, as it now is, to a high degree of perfection ? In this a case, is it not probable that all that acquaintance with science and the useful arts, which is essential to commerce, would have been preserved in the vessels traversing the face of the deep at the time of the deluge ? Even a universal deluge, without some dreadful concussion all over the earth, would not have destroyed completely every monument of art. But whence is it, that although the signs of such a concussion having at one time or another taken place in connexion with a deluge, be sufficiently apparent, yet nothing but natural productions are found lodged in the bowels of the earth, no monuments of art indicative of any considerable progress previous to the catastrophe, nor even of any very great population ?-But this is not all; unless we suppose such an extensive and improved state of navigation as would have prevented the total perdition of science and the arts, a universal deluge must have destroyed almost all the orders of terrestrial animals; for although a few of the human race might have escaped on the top of a mountain, or rather in some vessel like that of Noah, yet without supernatural interference either to direct the animals to the place of safety, or to give forewarning, that measures might be taken with due composure for securing at least a pair of each kind, they could not possibly have been saved. The atheist therefore is reduced to the dilemma of either renouncing the idea of a universal duluge in order to account for the present state of the world, or of admitting one of two things, which render his resorting to such an idea entirely needless ; 1st, a supernatural direction of all the circumstances, or 2dly, a creation of animals after the catastrophe.- Without however prosecuting these speculations, it were easy to demonstrate that no deluge almost universal, or really so, like that which is recorded in Scripture, could possibly take place without the supernatural interference of an Almighty Agent, either to elevate for a time the bed of the ocean, and alter the inclination of the axis of the earth, or produce the requisite quantity of water and afterwards dispose of it by changing the structure of the globe. * We next appeal to the defects of history. If the world, in its present constitution, had not its commencement only some few thousand years ago, whence is it that the history of nations is so limited in its sphere of authentic record ? It will be • BENTLEY in his Confutation of Atheism has shown not only that the idea of a deluge or succession of deluges is encumbered with various absurdities, (is urged by the atheist, but that any deluge almost or completely universal, is utteriv impossible without the superuatural interference of a Supreme Being. lip. 108, 109. It was а admitted that there are tribes who to this day have no other method of perpetuating remarkable events but oral tradition and the rude monuments devised or reared to assist it ; but, on the supposition of the world's eternity, it cannot well be conceived how this should have been the state of the whole human race till within a few centuries of the Christian æra. about that time Herodotus flourished; and although many records of antiquity were doubtless consumed in the ever to be deplored destruction of the Alexandrian library, about forty-seven years before Christ, yet as Herodotus had drawn up his details of ancient events long before that period, we must regard his history as a narrative of all that could be collected worthy of record. He was unable to go back a few ages, without being perplexed by contradictory traditions, and lost in the regions of fable ; and it is but a few ages he back even with such materials, to trace the origin and progress of the most civilized nations in the world. The history of Moses extends much farther, and is clear and decided. But then it commences with a creation of the heavens and the earth; it proclaims our system to be the work of an Almighty Agent, and founds a chronology by which the date of the world, at least of its present constitution, cannot much exceed the four thousandth year before the coming of Christ. Set aside his writings and all the history of antiquity terminates in the mists of fiction, which soon settle into impenetrable darkness. If the world existed for countless ages, it will be difficult indeed to conceive how the Jews should be the only people who possessed the archives of mankind. And yet it deserves to be remarked, that all profane history, which can be deemed authentic, stops short far within the date which Moses has fixed, and that the very darkness in which it terminates accredits his account of the origin and dispersion of our race. This darkness either rests on a void which could supply no materials for history, owing to the uninhabited state of a great part of the world after the flood; or it must have been occasioned by the paucity, the simplicity, and probably rude state of the first settlers, from whom the nations who afterwards figured in history derived their origin. The fragments of Manetho, accordingly, and of Sanchoniatho (who is supposed to have flourished in the days of Semiramis) are strongly corroborative of the sacred record. It was not to be expected that the nations who relinquished the pure religion of the patriarchs, would have much inducement to preserve the traditions of events which chiefly belonged to the history of that religion. Some of them, how |